Bypass ISP Throttling! <3

[TheSniper]

Okay people, so we all know that pretty much every ISP on the planet has been throttling back our torrents! What can we do? Change your bittorrent ports! On Bell Sympatico, for example, if your bittorrent client's port is changed to 21 (the default FTP port), Bell will no longer be able to crush your torrenting balls with its evil, evil filter. I'm not sure if this works on Rogers, someone should test it out and post back here to let everyone know how it works. Check out the list, pick a port, FORWARD the port, and download Linux distros and WoW updates to your heart's content!

*Theory*
Any port which is used for something that Bell would be very, very stupid to throttle (http, ftp, e-mail, etc.) will give you an unthrottled torrent pipe, so people should give them a try and I'll start up a nice list of which ports work on which ISPs.

*WARNING*
If you set your torrent port to something you use regularly (e.g. port 80), and use bittorrent and whatever the port is meant for, shit will start happening, so choose something you never use (e.g. never use port 80 for torrents while you surf the web).

The List
This is a list of ports and their status on various ISPs, I'll do my best to update this list as people supply the information, and if/as the ports are throttled (fingers crossed).

PM ME IF YOU HAVE INFORMATION TO BE ADDED TO THE LIST

Formatting is as follows:
<Port number> <default use of port> <ISP> <Working?>

21 (FTP)-Bell Sympatico-WORKS
1720 (H.323 teleconferencing protocol)-Rogers-WORKS

[lefty]

taken from another thread;

So, you're encountering issues with slow upstream speeds and it seems like the uploads level off at 0, right? Maybe you're using Comcast or another similar ISP that is employing bandwidth shaping or using "Sandvine." Damn your ISP! But you aren't without options! Here are the different methods which people use in an effort to combat these terrible nuisances... and if none of them work, feel free to switch to a different provider in protest or find a workaround that nobody else has thought of.

1. VPN - Virtual Private Network
This will more than likely cost you some extra money a month. You have a few options:
Relakks: https://www.relakks.com/?cid=gb
Witopia: http://www.witopia.net/personalmore.html
VPNTunnel: http://www.vpntunnel.co.uk/
Metropipe: http://www.metropipe.net
Hotspot Shield - Free but AD supported: http://www.anchorfree.com/downloads/hotspot-shield/

There are more and a simple google search can help you with this one. Here are guides for setting up a VPN for each OS:
WINDOWS VISTA:
https://www.publicvpn.com/support/Vista.php
(ignore the stuff that's included in and after the 'Select the Connection Properties' section)
WINDOWS XP:
http://www.windowsecurity.com/articl...indows-XP.html
LINUX:
http://www.linuxhelp.net/guides/vpn/
(not sure if this is the right guide)
MAC OS:
http://www.external.ameslab.gov/is/remote-vpn-osx.html
Replace the connection info with whatever VPN you choose for any of these tutorials and it should work.

The upside: This usually works for most people. It's even better if you have multiple computers and just use one to seed. If you seed with just that one computer, connect to a VPN with that computer. This should give you a constant stream upwards and you'll get your ratio up in no time. But don't go into this thinking it'll uncap your upstream... you can only go the max that your provider gives you up... and sometimes the VPN might limit it a bit lower, depending on the VPN you choose.
The downside: If you only use one computer then most VPN's tend to have sketchy service. The downstream might be intermittent on a VPN. Sometimes it might be hard to connect to them. That and most of these places you have to pay 5 bucks a month or more. I have the luxury of having a seeding computer connected to a VPN and a laptop that I just use without a VPN.

2. Force encryption
http://www.scribd.com/doc/273456/Opt...c-shaping-ISPs

The upside: It's a free option. It's a quick fix, if it works out for you.
The downside: A lot of people say it doesn't really work. But some people swear by it... so give it a shot if you have nothing else to lose.

3. Seedboxes
The most expensive option of the bunch, but a guaranteed success. Here are some host names:
Vectoral, LeaseWeb, Netdirekt, Tzulo, Exportal, OLM.net -- There are more and this is a subject you'll have to research... Basically you are renting out a remote machine that'll do the seeding for you. You'll have massive upstream and downstream capabilities, making it easier to get a good ratio. It's a great option if you have the cash to spend. Here's a good launching pad on getting to know what a seedbox is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedbox and there's a good thread already on the boards here about the subject of best providers http://waffles.fm/forums.php?action=...ic&topicid=495

The upside: Insane upstream means you'll get a great ratio (most places offer a great upstream package, just choose wisely.) It also means that no matter what your provider does to you... it won't affect your seedbox! Not to mention being able to store your files on a remote computer... that has great advantages.
The downside: Cost... These things can be as "cheap" as 50 bucks a month (if you're lucky...) but generally range around $85-$90 (US) a month... or more. AND... Most seedbox providers have it in their TOS that they don't want you using it for illegal files. They can shut off your service whenever they please.

4. SSH Tunneling
I list this one last because, well... I just plain don't like it. It can cripple the servers of the SSH providers, and make those providers unreliable or force them to take measures as well. If you REALLY want to do this option, and it will cost you at least a buck, then you can read the info over at torrent freak. Here's the link:
http://torrentfreak.com/bittorrent-over-ssh-071014/ -- No upside and downside to this section, as I basically said it all.

5. WIPFW
This option isn't really all that great because it requires all users to have performed this function before it'll be any good. Which is highly unlikely to occur... but perhaps it can help you anyway... Go here http://wakarimasu.googlepages.com/home and follow the instructions provided within and it just may help you combat things like sandvine on the comcast network, but I can't speak for the other ways different ISP's throttle your bandwidth.
The upside: It's free. It could completely combat sandvine on comcast
The downside: It really only works for "Sandvine" type throttling. Sandvine throttling sends a drop signal to both the receiver and sender so if both don't have this workaround installed, this won't work. In a perfect world everyone would unite together, but we all know that isn't happening. Also, this method isn't fully tested yet so it's too early to tell its effectiveness.

======================

Hope this information is of use to someone, let me know your results or other workarounds you've discovered so I can add it here.

[badastronaut]

I've been using port 1720 ever since Rogers started to throttle and it's been doing good by me. I have no idea what kind of port it is though, I just picked it up from a random forum.

[DevilShootsDevil]

very good article:
http://www.bootstrike.com/Articles/BitTorrentGuide/

[silence]

port 1720...

Keyword Decimal Description References
------- ------- ----------- ----------
h323hostcall 1720/tcp h323hostcall


http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers

[TheSniper]

Apparently port 1720 is the port for the H.323 teleconferencing protocol, which is (I think I heard somewhere) used internally by Rogers (perhaps their VOIP services?), as well as such services as Microsoft NetMeeting.

[Nekkris]

I'll be testing this for symbadico tonight, thanks sniper!

[GreenEnvy]

Good thread, this should help a lot of people.
Keep in mind, this will only help if they are targetting specific ports. If they are broadly slowing everything down, or doing deep packet inspection, this won't help.

[TheSniper]

It seems to me that they're throttling every port that isn't used by a 'legitimate' protocol by default, and they leave FTP, HTTP, etc. un-throttled since if those were throttled, there would probably be a lot of "normal users" who would call in and bitch that OMG YOUT00BZ R SLOW!@! :\

[Rolo]

Dudes, I don't think changing ports will really do anything.

The ISP's perform "deep packet inspection". Doesn't matter what port you're using. The technology looks at each and every packet of data that passes through. If it contains bittorrent data it will reset the TCP packet. Meaning the bittorrent packet didn't go through and the client app will resend. It doesn't do this on all packets, just some, which is enough to slow down the throughput.

Bell might throttle the traffic but for now most people won't really notice a difference.